New Planted Tank

[bordercollie05]

I'm getting ready to plant my tank. I put the eco-complete and half of the water in today. Tomorrow the rest of the water will go in along with the heater. I should be getting my plants on Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a 15W fluorescent bulb over a 10 gallon tank. I may upgrade in the future, but I wanted to start with this.

My question is, do I need fertilizer with eco-complete? If so, how much and which kinds? I don't plan on adding fish for at least a month.

Also, should I use some sort of CO2 from the start or would I have a chance without it? I did see a nutrafin kit at my petsmart. I've also thought a lot about just making a DIY 2 liter soda bottle version.

Thanks for any help/advice!

 

[Castellop123]

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[Themuleous]

You dont really need any extra ferts, eco-complete contains a complete range of nutrients. I would advise a broad spectrum trace mix weekly though, say Seachem Flourish, as this'll keep the water column topped up with nutrients and provide nutrients to those plants that are not rooted in the substrate, like anubias and java fern.

CO2 will help most if not all tanks as the plants like to have the extra in the water, the effect is just reduced in lower like tanks, but thats not to say its of no benefit. A DIY kit is easy to make, costs very little and would be idea for a 10g tank

Sam